House of Travel's Brent Thomas said five-year passports have been a problem for many people.

"Effectively the passport only lasts four years, six months, because the validity period has to be open for another six months after travel," he said.

"There's a number of people - you'd be surprised how many - who get down to the last few minutes and suddenly look at their passport and go, 'It's just about to expire, what do I do?'"

Five-year passports were introduced to New Zealand in 2005, on the grounds that allowing them to be changed frequently to keep up with fast-improving security technology would make them secure against theft or fraud.

The issue was reviewed late last year by diplomat and public servant Simon Murdoch.